News

We sailed to Dunkirk and the coronation; now we’re back

Dunkirk little ships from Ramsgate to evacuate soldiers from the beaches in 1940
Photograph:
TNL

AS BOATS of all shapes, sizes, colours and classes congregated in the docks of
east London in the past few days in preparation for the biggest set piece of
the diamond jubilee celebrations, the 1,000-boat flotilla, one thing was
abundantly clear: whoever is selling bunting is making a killing.

The waterways of the London Docklands around Canary Wharf were awash with
fabric triangles of every colour — although red, white and blue were
certainly dominant — strung up from masts, wound around railings, giving the
proceedings a carnival air.

The atmosphere was, as Michele Godson, 50, said, a bit like a floating
festival, a mini Glastonbury on the water.

Godson was on board the Minden, a German river fireboat painted scarlet and
decked with bunting and a Union Jack. It still has its working hoses which
will shoot plumes of water 100ft into the air as the boat makes its way down